Dive Brief:
- Volvo Autonomous Solutions is potentially quarters away, as opposed to years, from removing safety drivers in the U.S., Head of On-Road Solutions Sasko Cuklev said Oct. 26 at the American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition.
- The company is currently operating five trucks on two lanes in Texas, Cuklev said at a news conference. One lane is between Dallas and Houston while the other connects Fort Worth and El Paso, and the business is targeting expansion in the Sunbelt and broader U.S.
- Its AV tech partners include Aurora and Waabi and its commercial partners include DHL, Uber Freight and other unnamed parties, Cuklev told Trucking Dive.
Dive Insight:
While Texas has long been a focal point for companies seeking to develop autonomous operations, regulatory relief is also making autonomous operations without people onboard a truck possible, stakeholders say.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is allowing Aurora and potentially other companies to use cab-mounted warning beacons on AVs in lieu of drivers placing such alerting systems on the road when a truck was stopped there, according to a letter from the agency’s chief counsel.
The limited waiver runs from Oct. 10 through Jan. 9 and has certain restrictions, such as for use primarily on U.S. highways. It comes after a request was denied in December 2024 and an Aurora lawsuit against the federal government commenced in January.
Aurora said it’s committed to safety for all commercial vehicles and was dismissing its legal complaint.
Meanwhile, other recent developments have involved Waabi integrating its self-driving technology with the Volvo VNL Autonomous truck and Aurora adding a second lane in Texas.
Cuklev said he sees autonomous potentially becoming a new mode of delivering freight that’s used alongside other modes such as rail, ship and truck.
“It is not only about an autonomous truck,” Cuklev said. “So there is a broader, bigger solution that needs to be in place and an ecosystem, and that we have set up in Texas.”
